“If an enlightening being conceives a single feeling of anger toward enlightening beings, that produces a million obstacles such as these. Why? I do not see anything that is as big a mistake as for enlightening beings to become angry at other enlightening beings. Therefore, if great enlightening beings want to quickly fulfill the practices of enlightening beings, they should diligently practice ten principles: in their minds they should not abandon sentient beings; they should think of enlightening beings as buddhas; they should never slander any teachings of the buddhas, they should know that there is no end to different lands; they should be profoundly devoted to enlightening practices; they should not give up the cosmic, spacelike, impartial mind of enlightenment; they should contemplate enlightenment and enter the power of buddhas; they should cultivate unobstructed intellectual and expository powers; they should teach and enlighten beings tirelessly; they should live in all worlds without attachment in their minds.
“When great enlightening beings are living by these ten principles, they are able to embody ten kinds of purity. What are these ten? Purity of comprehension of the most profound truth; purity of association with good associates; purity of preserving the Buddha teachings; purity of comprehension of the realm of space; purity of profound penetration of the realm of reality; purity of observation of infinite minds; purity of having the same roots of goodness as all enlightening beings; purity of nonattachment to the various ages; purity of observation of past, present, and future; purity of practice of all enlightening teachings.
“When great enlightening beings persist in these ten things, they become imbued with ten kinds of broad knowledge: that is, knowledge of all sentient beings’ mental behavior; knowledge of the consequences of actions of all sentient beings; knowledge of all Buddha teachings; knowledge of the profound, occult import of all Buddha teachings; knowledge of all methods of concentration spells; knowledge of interpretation of all writings; knowledge of the language and speech of all sentient beings; knowledge of manifestation of their bodies in all worlds, knowledge of manifestation of their reflections in all assemblies; knowledge of embodying omniscience in all realms of being.
“Once great enlightening beings are established in this knowledge, they realize ten kinds of universal entry: all worlds enter one point, one point enters all worlds; all beings’ bodies enter one body, one body enters all beings’ bodies; untold eons enter one instant, one instant enters untold eons; all Buddhist principles enter one principle, one principle enters all Buddhist principles; untold places enter one place, one place enters all places; untold faculties enter one faculty, one faculty enters untold faculties; all faculties enter nonfaculty, nonfaculty enters all faculties; all perceptions enter one perception, one perception enters all perceptions; one utterance enters all utterances, all utterances enter one utterance; all pasts, presents, and futures enter one time frame, one time frame enters all pasts, presents, and futures.
“Once great enlightening beings have contemplated in this way, they abide in ten kinds of sublime mind: the sublime mind in which none of the perceptions and thoughts of sentient beings can abide; the sublime mind of the ultimate realm of space; the sublime mind of the boundless cosmos; the sublime mind of all the profound esoteric principles of buddhahood; the sublime mind of the extremely profound state of nondifferentiation; the sublime mind annihilating all doubt and confusion; the sublime mind of the nondifferentiated equality of all worlds; the sublime mind of the equality of all buddhas of past, present, and future; the sublime mind of the infinity of the power of all buddhas.
“Once great enlightening beings abide in these ten kinds of sublime mind, they acquire ten kinds of technical knowlege of the Buddha teachings: technical knowledge comprehending the most profound Buddha teaching; technical knowledge of the production of far-reaching Buddha teachings; technical knowledge of exposition of all kinds of Buddha teachings; technical knowledge of realizing the Buddha teaching of equality; technical knowledge of understanding the Buddha teaching of differentiation; technical knowledge of understanding the Buddha teaching of nondifferentiation; technical knowledge of profound penetration of the Buddha teaching of adornment; technical knowledge of penetrating the Buddha teachings by one means; technical knowledge of penetrating the Buddha teachings by innumerable means; technical knowledge of nondifference of the boundless Buddha teachings; technical knowledge of nonregression in the Buddha teachings by one’s own mind and one’s own power.
“When great enlightening beings have heard this teaching, they should all be inspired and respectfully accept and hold it. Why? Great enlightening beings who hold this teaching quickly attain unexcelled, complete perfect enlightenment with a minimum of effort, and all are enabled to embody all qualities of buddhahood, equal to the qualities of the buddhas of all times.”
Then, by the spiritual power of the Buddha as well as by natural law, in each of the ten directions as many worlds as atoms in ten unspeakable numbers of tens of quintillions of buddha-lands all quaked in six ways and rained showers from clouds of all flowers surpassing those of the heavens, as well as clouds of perfumes, incenses, robes, canopies, banners, pennants, jewels, and all kinds of decorations; there rained clouds of music, clouds of enlightening beings, clouds of physical forms of untold buddhas, clouds of infinite praises of the buddhas, clouds of voices of buddhas filling all universes, untold clouds of magically arrayed worlds, untold clouds developing enlightenment, untold clouds of light shining, and untold clouds of mystic manifestations expounding the Teaching.
As in this world, at the site of enlightenment, under the tree of enlightenment, in the palace of the enlightening being, the Buddha, the Completely Enlightened One, was seen expounding this teaching, so it was in all worlds in the ten directions.
Then, owing to the spiritual power of the Buddha as well as by natural law, there came to this land as many great enlightening beings as atoms in ten buddha-lands from each of the ten directions, from beyond as many worlds as atoms in ten infinities of buddha-lands. Filling the ten directions, they spoke these words to Universal Good: “It is very good, Offspring of Buddha, that you can explain this profound teaching of the giving of the prophecy of enlightenment, the greatest promise of the buddhas. We are all named Universal Good, the same as you, and each have come to this land from a world called Universal Excellence, from the company of buddhas called Freedom Representative of Universality. All, by the spiritual power of Buddha, expound this teaching, with such assemblies and such utterances, all equal, with neither increase nor decrease. We have all come to this enlightenment site by the Buddha’s spiritual power to be witnesses for you. As we innumerable enlightening beings serve as witnesses at this site of enlightenment, the same is so in all worlds in the ten directions.”
Then the great enlightening being Universal Good, by the spiritual power of the Buddha and by the power of his own roots of goodness, looked over the ten directions, throughout the cosmos; wishing to elucidate the practice of enlightening beings, to tell of the realm of enlightenment of the buddhas, to explain the realm of great vows, to explain the reckoning of ages of all worlds, to clarify the timely appearance of the buddhas, to explain how the buddhas develop beings according to their faculties, appearing to let them attend them, to make it clear that the effort of the buddhas’ appearance in the world is not wasted, to make it clear that roots of goodness that are planted will surely bear fruit, and to clarify how enlightening beings of great spiritual power manifest forms for all sentient beings to teach and enlighten them, spoke these verses:
You should rejoice,
Get rid of all veils,
And single-mindedly listen with respect
To the vows and acts of enlightening beings.
The enlightening beings of the past
Were supreme lions of humanity;
The practices they carried out
I shall tell in order.
I will also tell the numbers of ages
The worlds and acts
; And the peerless honored ones
Who emerged therein.
As for those past buddhas
Who appeared in the world by their vows,
How did they destroy afflictions
For all sentient beings?
All the lions of philosophy
Continue practice to fulfillment,
Attaining the state of equality of buddhas,
The realm of omniscience.
Seeing all the human lions
Of past ages
Emanating great networks of lights
Illumining the worlds of the ten directions,
They reflected and made their vows:
“I should be a lamp for the world
Replete with the virtues of buddhahood,
Their ten powers, their omniscience.
All sentient beings
Burn with greed, anger, and folly;
I should save and free them,
Have them extinguish the pains of the states of woe.”
They make such vows,
Steadfast, unregressing,
To cultivate all enlightening practices
And gain the unimpeded ten powers.
Having made such vows,
They cultivate practice without shrinking back.
None of their actions are in vain,
Thus they are called lions of philosophy.
In one eon of virtue
A thousand buddhas emerged in the world:
Their universal eyes
I will explain in order.
As in one eon of virtue
So too in measureless eons;
Those future buddhas’ practices
I will explain distinctly.
As in one type of buddha-land,
So in numberless lands;
The practices of future buddhas
I will now explain.
Buddhas’ successive emergence in the world,
What were their vows, what their names,
What were the prophecies they received,
What were their life spans,
What were the true principles they practiced
Solely seeking the unobstructed path,
Who were the beings they taught,
How long their right teaching remained in the world,
What were the buddha-lands they purified,
The sentient beings there and the cycles of teaching,
Their explanation of proper and improper timing,
Progressively purifying beings,
What were the actions of the beings,
Their patterns and inclinations,
High, middling, low, not the same,
How they influenced them to practice—
Penetrating such knowledge,
The future buddhas cultivated the supreme practice,
Always doing the work of Universal Good,
Widely freeing the living.
Physical actions unimpeded,
Verbal actions all pure,
Mental actions also thus,
Always like this at all times—
Enlightening beings acting thus
Consummate the path of Universal Good,
Producing the sun of pure knowledge
Illuminating the cosmos.
The lands of future eons
Are unspeakably many in number;
They know them all in an instant
Without discrimination among them.
Those who practice can enter into
Such a supreme state:
Of these principles of enlightening beings
I shall tell a little.
Knowledge and wisdom boundless,
They realize the scope of buddhahood;
Entering completely therein,
Their practice does not regress.
Replete with Universally Good wisdom,
They fulfill Universally Good vows
And enter the peerless knowledge;
I shall tell of their practice.
In a single atom
They see all worlds;
If sentient beings should hear of this,
They’d go mad in confusion.
As in one atom,
So in all atoms;
All worlds enter therein—
So inconceivable is it.
In every single atom
Are all things of all places and times;
The states and lands, innumerable,
The enlightening discern and know.
In every single atom
Are countless kinds of buddha-lands,
And each kind is also countless;
They know all in one.
All the various different features
That there are in the cosmos,
The types of beings, each different,
They can discern and know.
Deeply entering subtle knowledge,
They distinguish the worlds;
The becoming and decay of all ages
They can clearly explain.
They know the length and brevity of all ages,
And that past, present, and future are one moment:
The sameness and difference of myriad practices
They all distinctly know.
They penetrate all worlds,
Vast and small,
One body countless lands,
One land, countless bodies.
The innumerable features
Of the worlds of different species
In the ten directions
They know entirely.
Those of most profound knowledge
Comprehend the becoming and decay
Of the numberless lands
Of past, present, and future.
Of the worlds in the ten directions,
Some are forming, some decaying:
Infinite though they be,
The virtuous comprehend them all.
There are some lands
With variously adorned ground,
And the beings are also adorned—
This is due to purity of action.
Then again some lands
Have countless kinds of pollution;
This is due to beings experiencing everything
According to their acts.
Infinite, boundless worlds,
The enlightening know are one land;
The Flower Ornament Scripture Page 126